thedistillers wrote:
So let's say we have the following numbers: 2,4,6,8,10,13.
What you're doing is stopping at the number 10 and protesting that the next number MUST be 12, because why? IT WORKS!!! IT WORKS!!! + 2, +2, +2. IT WORKS!!! The next number is 12, because it works!!!
You can protest all night long, but the next number in the serie is 13.
If you're going to be a rational person, you just can't say "it works!".
Of course this is not a series because there is no common addition. A rational person could tell you that. You could also tell me it is a series but because the sequence of numbers has no common addition it cannot by definition be a series.
To prove the next number must be 12 I shall assume you are using an Arithemetic Progression.
So:
The rules of the term:
2n
When n = 6 the answer is 12 not 13. Not because it works because I say so. But because according to my rule it must be 12. It cannot be 13. It takes a rational person to realise that this set of numbers is not described according to your rules.
Indeed you could say "ah yes but the rule changed!" well that's fucking obvious to a rational person too.
However the assumption that things remain the same has been maintained for a long time. You assumed that when you read this comment you'd be able to reply. That your house will not be attacked by a Tyranosaurus Rex armed with a teapot lasercannon. If you never made that assumption that it was the same that'd be irrational and you'd get nowhere.
Sorry since when do I place my trust in science .. what does mean it isn't science that makes me think things are generally going to behave in the ways I expect them to It's common sense, you can't function without that expectation . If I thought the brake fluid in my car was suddenly going to change its properties because science got it all wrong then I wouldn't drive so fast .If I thought hydraulic principles depended on the whim of god I wouldn't be driving I would be in a loony bin .
